East Side Access, Cotton Belt Rail Line awarded honors by strategic infrastructure firm

CG/LA Infrastructure's Project of the Year awards were doled out, including New York's East Side Access and the Cotton Belt Line.

"These transformative infrastructure investments are critical to our economic security and worldwide competitiveness," CG/LA Infrastructure President and CEO Norman Anderson said. "The Project of the Year awards honor the innovative construction initiatives and the visionaries who are leading them that will help to shape the North American economic landscape into a global powerhouse for the future."

Project of the Year awards are given in five categories covering strategy, financing, engineering, job creation and the environment. All projects have specific business opportunities to be realized in the next three to 18 months.

The winners were announced at the 5th Annual North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The $8.2-billion East Side Access project and the $1.5-billion Louisiana International Gulf Transfer Terminal tied for the Strategic Project of the Year for their potential to generate a historic leap in a country or region's productivity and/or competitiveness.

The East Side Access project will connect the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Main and Port Washington lines in Queens to a new LIRR terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The new connection will increase the LIRR's capacity into Manhattan and dramatically shorten travel time for Long Island and eastern Queens passengers traveling to the east side of Manhattan.

The $1.4-billion Cotton Belt Rail Line connecting Dallas and Fort Worth is the Finance Project of the Year that establishes and/or most extends an innovative finance model, moving closer to more efficient and faster infrastructure investment.

The 62-mile commuter rail project will link the northeast Dallas suburbs to downtown Fort Worth, including a stop near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and beyond into Tarrant County and ending in Plano.

Project of the Year award winners were selected among the Strategic Top 100 North American Infrastructure Projects, valued at $435 billion. The 5th North American Strategic Leadership Forum is designed to double the level of infrastructure investment in North America and dramatically improve the quality and productivity of that investment.